The Cinderella Reflex (27 page)

“I have hired my own, independent counsellor on this matter. One with a law degree,” Ollie Andrews was muttering darkly from behind his computer screen.

“You’re right, Ollie,” Sara said. “And here, what do think about this coaching thing that Paulina Fox is setting up? Like, can you
coach
someone into having the X-factor?”

“No, you can’t,” Ollie said. “You either have it or you don’t. And I have, so what is the
point
?”

Tess sighed. It was the morning after Helene’s fortieth birthday party, which had been pretty tense for a celebration. She had gone because she wanted to make an effort to get on with everyone at work better this time around. But Helene had acted strangely out of character – she had hardly spoken to anyone all evening. Tess had been unable to look Andrea in the eye because she still hadn’t worked out whether to tell her about seeing Paul in the restaurant. Consequently, she had drunk too much wine, had slept in late this morning and was now nursing a giant hangover. And all this talk about the contest was getting on her nerves.

“It’s just another stunt dreamed up by Paulina,” she muttered. “They probably already have their winner picked if you ask me.”

“
If
we asked you!” Ollie glowered.

Sara looked at her curiously. “Are you going in for the contest, Tess?”

“Of course she is,” said Ollie. “Haven’t you heard about her elevator speech?”

“What’s this about an elevator speech?” Andrea strolled by, looking at Ollie curiously.

“It’s nothing, I’ll tell you about it later,” Tess said quickly. Thankfully, Andrea had been out of the office when Helene had announced to all and sundry that Tess had been stalking Jack McCabe. She wanted to explain what had happened without the nasty spin Helene had put on it.

“Tell her now, why don’t you, Tess?” Ollie challenged. “Why keep your best friend in the dark? Let me save you the bother, actually.” He turned to Andrea. “What do you think of this? Tess has been
stalking
Jack McCabe. She trapped him in a lift so she could pitch her ideas to him in private.” He raised his eyebrows meaningfully. “Hence the term ‘elevator speech’.”

Andrea stared at Tess. “So when did you decide to enter the contest?”

Tess sighed. “I wasn’t talking to Jack about the contest – I was trying to get the agony-aunt slot back!”

“Yeah … because that was such a success the first time around!” Ollie chortled, snapping the lid of his coffee container open and taking a long slug.

“So that explains how Paul saw you having dinner with Jack,” Andrea said slowly. “He said you pretended not to see him, but he was pretty sure you had.”

“She was having
dinner
with Jack?” Ollie almost choked on his coffee.

“But that’s so cool!” Sara was full of curiosity. “So tell us, Tess, what’s he
really
like? Is he ruthless? Is he going to sack everyone over thirty? Is he as
hot
as he looks?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Tess muttered, her mind racing in another direction altogether. If Paul had told Andrea he saw Tess at the restaurant, there must be an innocent explanation for him being with that woman. Thank God.

She turned to Andrea now. “Listen Andrea, I’ve loads to tell you. How about lunch?”

“I’ve a pretty busy day. Sorry.” Andrea switched on her computer and stared at the screen.

Tess bit her lip, wondering how to get back their old, easy friendship.

The phone rang.

“Hello, Atlantic 1FM. Oh! Okay, I’ll tell her. Tess!” Sara covered the receiver with one hand. “It’s Paulina.” She made a jabbing gesture with her finger towards the telephone. “She’d like you to pop along to see her. She’s starting the coaching sessions immediately.”

Tess was still trying to figure out how to approach Andrea. “I’m a bit busy at the moment,” she said absentmindedly. “Why don’t you go along for the first session yourself?”

Sara spoke into the phone again before replacing the receiver and raising her eyebrows at Tess. “The coaching schedule is non-negotiable apparently. She wants you for the first session.”

“For heaven’s sake!” Tess snatched up her notebook and marched up the corridor to the small office Paulina had commandeered for the day. It just wasn’t good enough that she could order people to her at a moment’s notice, she thought crossly. She had absolutely no preparation done for this meeting. In fact, she wasn’t even sure what a coaching session
was.
She knocked on the door sharply.

“Come!” Paulina commanded.

Tess pushed open the door, not bothering to hide her displeasure at being summoned so abruptly.

“Tough start to the day?” Paulina smiled, showing tiny, even white teeth.

“It’s been fine so far,” Tess said shortly.

“It must be difficult having to deal with Ollie again, though?” Paulina pressed.

Tess shrugged. “I can handle him.”

“Well, I can’t get him to listen to my ideas, at all,” Paulina said plaintively. “He seems to be on the defensive all the time.”

Tess hid a smile. It wasgratifying to see how the ultra-capable Paulina Fox felt flummoxed by Ollie – it made Tess feel less inadequate. But she wasn’t here to exchange stories about Ollie. She looked at Paulina levelly. “So – this coaching – can we get on with it?”

“Ah yes – the coaching.” Paulina scribbled something on the A4 pad in front of her before looking up. “What do you need to know to help you to win the contest?”

“Well, we’ve already put in our submissions so is all of this not a bit late?”

“The submissions were only one part of the process.” Paulina leaned forward in her chair. “We shall be carefully monitoring people between now and the relaunch day next week.”

Tess racked her brain. “So what is it exactly you’re looking for in the winner?”

Paulina sighed heavily as if she’d just been asked for the Third Secret of Fatima.

“Everybody is asking that,” she said. “But it’s sort of intangible, you know?”

“Right,” Tess said uncertainly.

“What I
can
tell you,” Paulina said, “is that we want the winner to portray a certain image. For instance, if we choose a female presenter then we’ll be looking for a woman who is sexy, but with a girl-next-door approachability at the same time. Do you know what I mean?”

Tess very much doubted if even Paulina knew what she meant. “Not really,” she admitted.

Paulina narrowed her eyes. “Look, each contestant will need something different to get them up to the standard we’re looking for.
You
for instance,” she looked Tess up and down appraisingly, “should consult a stylist.”

“Really?” Tess looked down with surprise at her outfit. She had given up dressing down for work since she’d met Chris again and had chosen today’s outfit with care – dark suede jacket, tailored grey dress, much higher heels than she was accustomed to.

“I’m not saying there is anything particularly
wrong
with your image,” Paulina clarified. “But I have worked with the stylist Mai Mooney extensively in the past and she will know instinctively what we’re looking for. I know Andrea McAdams has already been to see her twice. I can give you Mai’s address if you like.” She began to rummage through a brown leather wallet for a business card.

Tess watched her with rising indignation, remembering Mr Cheung and his astronomical haircare prices. How many more bloody makeovers was she going to have to endure for this job? Then her heart skipped a beat as her mind played catch-up on what Paulina had just said.

Andrea had seen Mai Mooney twice already? So how come she hadn’t told her? She and Andrea told each other everything. Or used to, she thought uncomfortably, as the image of Paul and his female companion flashed into her mind.

Of course, she’d jumped to the wrong conclusion about that night. Maybe that’s what she was doing again now. Andrea probably hadn’t had a chance to tell her. Tess had been busy avoiding her after all. And she had a lot going on with the children and the pressures at work. Seeing a stylist was probably just another task on her to-do list.

“Tess?”

Tess snapped back to the present. Paulina had evidently asked her a question and was expecting an answer. She forced herself to focus and for the next twenty minutes tried to concentrate on the conversation. But Paulina remained as irritatingly vague as ever and at the end of her allotted session Tess felt the whole thing had been a waste of time.

She needed to find some way of establishing herself as a serious candidate, she thought, as she left the office. She needed to prove to Jack McCabe that she was more than the flitter-head who had walked out of studio during her debut on-air slot and then trapped him in a lift to persuade him to give it back to her again.

She had heard nothing from him since the night in the restaurant. Not even an email to welcome her back. But then what had she expected? Jack had been upfront about his interest in her from the start – she was a temporary solution to an annoying problem, namely to keep Ollie Andrews sweet while Jack and Paulina got on with the task of relaunching Atlantic 1FM. Any spark of attraction had clearly been in Tess’s own imagination, even if it felt at the time that there was enough electricity between them to power up a small city.

“Tess!”

She turned to see Jack coming down the corridor.

“I was just coming to see you, to welcome you back!” He stopped, pushing one hand through his hair. “So, how have you been getting on?”

Tess thought of the useless coaching session she had just sat through with Paulina, of Ollie and his constant hectoring of everything she said and did, and of her on-going misery because of the misunderstanding between herself and Andrea.

“Fine.” Her voice came out in a high-pitched squeak.

“Why do I find that hard to believe?”

He sounded amused and Tess flushed with annoyance.

“It’s not funny,” she said shortly. To her horror, she felt her eyes filling with tears. “It’s hard trying to fit back in,” she confessed. “And I’m not at all sure that I’ve done the right thing in coming back.”

“It’s that bad? Look, let me buy you lunch and we can talk it through, see if there’s any way we can improve things. I feel a bit guilty because I’m only getting around to checking in with you now. It’s been crazy trying to get everything done in time for the relaunch night.”

She hesitated. The thought of spending her lunch break with a friendly face was almost too tempting to turn down. But what would Andrea have to say if she found out she was having lunch with the boss? Not to mention Ollie and Helene.

“I’m sorry but I really have a lot of work I need to be getting on with,” she said reluctantly.

“Coffee then. Please?” He was hard to resist. “I like to iron out difficulties as they occur – it’s not good to leave them to fester.”

“Coffee would be nice,” she conceded.

She made sure they only went as far as the local greasy spoon, Zelda’s, so that if anyone spotted them, they would know the meeting was work-related. And she kept up a professional stance the whole time they were there. She told him how Helene had fainted and how Ollie was on tenterhooks all the time, and how that was making her role even more difficult than it had been first time round.

“It’s just teething problems. It always happens in a transition period. Everything will settle down soon enough and, when it does, I promise you the radio station will be a much better place to work in than it was before I came along.”

She looked at him and wondered if she could believe him. She wanted to. And he was so full of energy and optimism it was hard not to be affected by it.

Even after they had said goodbye and she was making her way back to the radio station, Tess still felt her spirits buoyed up by their meeting.

She was stopped at the traffic lights, waiting for a green light, when she felt a sharp poke on her shoulder. She swirled around to face Paulina Fox. She was dressed in a black suit with a tight skirt and fitted jacket, and was carrying a soft leather cream briefcase. Tess caught the scent she was wearing, something strong and expensive, adding to the overall picture she projected of someone who was in total control of her life

“So what have you been whining to Jack about this time?” Paulina narrowed her eyes. “You’re not still trying to get your agony-aunt slot back, I hope?”

Tess looked at the other woman in astonishment. “With all due respect, I don’t see what that has to do with you.”

“Everything that happens with Jack concerns me,” Paulina snapped. “You do know we’re seeing each other?”

So Andrea had been right. Tess wasn’t surprised. The sophisticated Paulina Fox was exactly the sort of woman she could imagine Jack being interested in. “I don’t see how that’s my business,” she told the other woman.

“Your Little Miss Scatterbrain act doesn’t fool me for one minute. I haven’t quite worked out yet just what game you’re playing, Tess Morgan, but just because Jack doesn’t see through you doesn’t mean that I don’t.”

Tess took a small, involuntary step backwards. Maybe Helene had been bad-mouthing her to Paulina? But the other woman’s animosity felt more personal than that.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tess said finally. “But I need to get back to work. And you’re barring my way.”

Paulina blinked, but didn’t move for several seconds.

Then abruptly, she turned without saying another word and walked off. Tess stared after her, her good mood already vanished.

By the time she got back to work, she was still feeling shaky from the bizarre encounter. She stepped into the Ladies’ to gather her wits and saw Andrea was there. She was touching up her make-up, peering into a small compact mirror, pressing her lips together to set her lipstick.

“Hi!” Tess looked at her cautiously. This was her chance to break the ice. “I’ve just bumped into Paulina Fox. She is seriously strange!” She turned on the cold tap and bent to splash water on her face.

Andrea didn’t reply. Tess straightened up and pulled off a sheet of scratchy paper towel. She looked at Andrea carefully, remembering what Paulina had said about her consulting the stylist Mai Mooney for advice on her image. Andrea was such a stunner it was hard to see what Mai Mooney could have offered by way of improvement but, now that she was looking closely, Tess thought maybe Andrea’s appearance
had
changed, albeit in a very subtle way. She looked
glossier
somehow.